It seems that religion has always been considered the opium of the people. Or at least many tend to gravitate towards religion to have or solidify some sort of future with a supreme being overlooking them hoping to have a reward either in heaven or in the Jehovah's Witnesses case - living forever in a " paradise earth ". It seems that people can't just live day to day and let each day come to them with whatever happens. There HAS to be some master plan in which their future is laid out for them.
We were taught that future as JW's. That if we exited the Jehovah's Witnesses that ALL would be lost ! We'd HAVE no future , we'd HAVE no hope, we'd be UNHAPPY, we'd turn EVIL, and mentally we were told we'd be unsuccessful and fall into despair ! All of this because WE let go of a future that the WT society was PROMISING us that - allegedly - was true . But ended up being false.
However , many of us upon exiting Jehovah's Witnesses have found we are HAPPIER NOT knowing the future ! Because it leaves us OPEN to positive possibilities of many varied activities we could engage in - unlike the tunnel vision of following what ONE organization is saying and rolling the dice putting ALL our hopes and dreams that the WT society has everything accurate about this life ! Which when you think about it limited our vision and scope and comprehension of the possibilities which would ENRICH our lives !
A good book I've read a couple times since being a teenager is " Gestalt Therapy Verbatim ". A well known psychologist Frederick Perls wrote these points in an excerpt from this book which points to what I'm saying here. On pg. 45 he states, " So how about the future ? We don't know anything about the future. If we all had crystal balls, even then we wouldn't experience the future. We would experience a VISION of the future. And all of this is taking place in the here and now. So the most important existential saying is, we don't want to HAVE a future, we are afraid of the future. We fill in the gap where there should be a future with insurance policies, status quo, sameness, ANYTHING so as not to experience the possibility of openness to the future. "
He continues, " It seems incredible that we could live without goals, without worrying about the future, that we could be open and ready for what might come. No ; we have to make sure that we have no future, that the status quo should remain, even be a little bit better. But we musn't take risks, we musn't be open to the future. Something could happen that would be new and exciting, and contributing to our growth. It's too dangerous to take the growth risk. We would rather walk this earth as half-corpses than live dangerously , and realize that this living dangerously is much safer than this insurance-life of safety and not taking risks , which most of us decide to do. "
Then he goes on about the POSITIVE value of risk taking in life and how it opens us up to happier possibilities. So I thought you might find that idea interesting. Instead of catastrophic expectations after exiting the Witnesses - we can actually have WONDERFUL expectations of living a free life without the confines and restrictions of man made dogma weighing us down.
So how have you folks felt about the future after exiting the Witnesses ? Are you scared ? That's normal. We all have at one point. However when you think of it- imagine how scary it would be to be inside the JW organization and realize that nOTHING they are telling you is true ! That you are being USED by a mind control organization intent on CONTROLLING your future ? Personally- I like the alternative to keeping my OWN future open with my own reasoning power and open mind than rolling the dice on the WT society's version. So as always I'm interested in your takes and observations ! Look forward to hearing from you. Hope you are all doing well and have a great weekend ! Take care, Peace out, Mr. Flipper